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Living through “RIGOR” in the creative classroom

It’s here!! Time for readin, ritin, rithmetic, and RIGOR. Yes, we said it….RIGOR!!! It is the educational “catch phrase” of every school we visit. After much research, discussion, and tears..many…we believe that rigor refers to bringing students at every grade to a higher level of thinking, encouraging them to think critically…and here it comes…..CREATIVELY. It is the job of the teacher to create ( we love that word), the environment that supports this thinking, creating, and questioning. So…….here come the Bag Ladies to help you !!!!

We start the year with a piece of fictional literature that we read to our students and a combination of our units as we “teach” them how to ask questions, hold conversations, see grammar and language skills in the piece, respond to characters, write about thoughts and support, sketch, agree with another’s opinion or disagree and how to express this…

As we create our portfolios to house these new learning tools, each day we create a section for students to fill out and share. They respond, they wonder, they enrich, creating new ideas, characters, and thoughts through projects….. Yes it is rigorous, but it is also FUN!!!!!!!!

Next time…..”It’s all about the projects, bout the projects, bout the projects”. …